As aspirants waited with bated breath, the UPSC Civil Service Examination results were announced before the lunch hours on Monday, 30 May 2022, bringing an end to a long 3-stage evaluation process. Earlier, word had gone around that the results would be out on Friday, and that they got postponed to Saturday, and then that they got postponed once again to Monday, giving rise to consternation among many of the candidates. “You can’t trust UPSC with the result timings,” one of them said.
As UPSC will be conducting the Prelims exam for 2022 this Sunday, the candidates were pretty sure that the results for the 2021 exam will be released today. However, the exact timing for announcing the result was, as always, kept a secret till the last. The first confirmation came from a former civil servant and retired Secretary, Public Enterprises Selection Board, Arun Kumar Saxena, who notified his followers on Facebook that the results will be announced any time after 12 pm today, giving rise to much anticipation, as well as agitation in some.
SCENE OUTSIDE UPSC HQ TODAY
Around 10 in the morning, the scene at the Shahjahan Road outside the UPSC headquarter was not as it used to be before, when aspirants used to gather there and wait for the results. This is because UPSC uploads the results on its website first, and then only, after a while, sticks it up on the noticeboard in its premises. So, most candidates nowadays prefer to check the results online instead of making the journey to Shah Jahan Road in New Delhi.
Still, some candidates who appeared for the interview were there outside the UPSC office, hovering around withn the campus, as they waited patiently for the results to be announced.
Few of them were seen listlessly moving here and there with vague expressions on their faces revealing that their minds were elsewhere, probably thinking about the results that were to be announced shortly and how they would fare in them and what would be the repercussions if their names are or are not in the coveted list.
Yet some were lost in deep discussions with their fellow candidates, while others were seen continuously checking their Telegram groups for any result update. The atmosphere was overall quite tense because of the high pressure this exam carries with it.
MIXED FEELINGS
Indian Masterminds spoke with some of these candidates who were present outside the UPSC office and tried to know from them about their feelings before the results. Karthikeyan from Chennai was among those aspirants who were waiting for a long time near the notice board where the results were to be displayed. He couldn’t clear the Preliminary exam on the first attempt and had appeared for CSE for the second time last year. He managed to clear the Mains and was selected for the interview stage.
He came to Delhi all the way from Chennai to appear for his interview which was scheduled on the last day of the interview rounds. He said, “I am very nervous and have mixed feelings about the result.”
Not just him, Shivin, who hails from Shamli in Uttar Pradesh, was another candidate who was very tense about the result. He was not ready to talk to anybody and nervousness was clearly visible on his face as he walked around the notice board area. It was a very overwhelming moment for him when the results got declared. At first, he couldn’t believe that he had cleared the tough examination. He took a minute to come back to his senses and then he celebrated with his friends who had accompanied him. He secured AIR 525 in UPSC 2021 final result.
There were some emotional scenes outside the UPSC office gate when Narayani Bhatia’s sister, who is an IRS officer of the 2018 batch, kept thanking God with hands joined in prayers for her sister’s success in the exam.
Srinath, an aspirant from Andhra Pradesh, was found with mixed feeling, as he couldn’t clear the exam while his sister nailed it in her first attempt itself. Both the siblings, Srinath and V Maneesha, had appeared for the first time and had reached the interview stage. The sister cleared the final hurdle to see success while the brother is set to try again.
LIFE ALTERING MOMENT
The UPSC CSE result is life changing for the successful candidates as they take a step forward towards public service and serving the nation. At the same time, it is crossroads for those aspirants who could not clear the exam, as they need to make a choice – to move on and explore other career avenues or focus with renewed vigour and determination on their preparation for another attempt at the tough examination. Either way, this examination is life altering in many ways than one!
